Compounds capable of absorbing and/or emitting light can be ideally suited for use in a wide variety of optical and electroluminescent devices, including, for example, photo-absorbing devices such as solar- and photo-sensitive devices, OLEDs, and photo-emitting devices. Much research has been devoted to the discovery and optimization of organic and organometallic materials for using in optical and electroluminescent devices. Generally, research in this area aims to accomplish a number of goals, including improvements in absorption and emission efficiency and improvements in the stability of devices, as well as improvements in processing ability.
Despite significant advances in research devoted to optical and electro-optical materials (e.g., red and green phosphorescent organometallic materials are commercially available and have been used as phosphors in OLEDs, lighting and advanced displays), many currently available materials exhibit a number of disadvantages, including poor processing ability, inefficient emission or absorption, and less than ideal stability, among others.